Next chance
by theunknowablelegend
Summary: This is a steampunk AU. Some time has passed and because the the previous success they have decided to take four more out of the Isle of the Lost. WARNING: Nearly everything has been changed. The plot of the movie has been loosely followed. Read at your own digression.


WARNING: Almost everything has been changed. The Isle of the Lost is excatly the same. Auradon is now Amearothia. And Auradon Prep is now Eve Institutes. Mal is now Quinn and 18 when the story start. Evie is now Tiara, she's blond and wears reading glasses. Jay is now Faiz. Carlos is Carlos. The New arrivals get there two weeks before school gets out. Read at your own digression.

All rights reserved for Disney Descendants. I own nothing.

"Hey. You called us?" Quinn asked as she, Carlos, Faiz, and Tiara entered the room in which the king had called them.

"Quinn." Tiara scolded. "Your majesty, how may we be of service."

"Ti, come on. We know Ben. We don't need to be formal."

"No? Well, I guess dragons have their own rules, don't they." A deep voice behind them spoke and in walked King Beast.

"It's not that, your majesty. Quinn has never been one big on pleasantries."

"Why are we here?" Carlos finally asked.

"I can't invite friends over?" King Ben asked.

"Then why did the whole royal court come with fancy letters?"

"Maybe I just wanted to show off my new delivering system."

"But you didn't. You want something, what?"

"Quinn -May I call you Quinn?- You've almost finished with your first year of school now. And we were thinking that it was time to bring in more children from the Isle." The Queen told her.

"...You're kidding?" Quinn laughed. "... You're not kidding."

"I doubt they've calmed down since the coronation." Faiz mentioned.

"We understand that the inhabitants may be less than cooperative. But we wanted to at least start to think about who we could bring next."

"So you just want us to name all the children." Tiara clarified.

"Gaston has twenty." Carlos supplied.

"He does not have twenty." Quinn argued.

"He has nine by my count, since Isaac should be born by now." Faiz corrected.

"I think nine is a bit much, four seemed to be the right amount. How 'bout we just sit down and write them all out."

"That might get a bit messy for Gaston." Faiz mentioned. "But I would think Zoe would be a good person to bring over."

"Voodoo's little girl?" Tiara asked. "What about her sister?"

"They have a rivalry going on, remember."

"I just want to have a record of every child we know to be born on the Isle. We can discuss who's going later, okay."

"Do I look like a census?" Quinn asked.

"Please."

* * *

(A month later)

Zoe was in the middle of sabotaging her sister, again, when her dad found her. He was freaking out and sprouting words that together made no sense then pulled her out of her Nabila's room and down the street to the meeting tower. Zoe was urshed inside to see Maleficent herself sitting in front of the stained glass window.

She was sitting gazing out the window. Her posture told of restlessness and hatred. She was seething and when Dr. Facilier coughed she motioned for them to sit down. Both did so quickly, afraid of what she might do in such a foul mood.

Gaston and Sarah sat with their twins, Nicolette and Norbert. Nicolette and Norbert had been together since birth and would do anything for the other person. Zoe actually liked Norbert and Nicolette but they rarely talked. Their personalities too different to be friends. Hook and Drizella were also there with their son, Zack. Now, Zack, there was a mean boy. Zoe actually liked that about him, and his long lasting grudges. But he was too direct for Zoe's taste. Whenever they caused a ruckus she was always shouldered with the blame.

They sat in silence for a while. The room may have already been dark but Maleficent turned it cold.

"Maleficent?" Drizella prompted.

"I ausse you know why you're here. If you don't I'll tell you. You four have been chosen to go to Auradon."

"Amearothia." Nicolette corrected.

"Whatever." Maleficent snapped. "In three days time you'll go to school and met those traitors. Tell them I said hi."

"What do you want done?" Zack asked standing.

"Why do we have to go?" Zoe asked.

"You will go because those kings and queens have absolute power here." She talked about them in muttering tones.

"Why can't we just jump the driver? Think about it. We have a hostage. We can-"

"You're more naive than I thought, Zoe."

"Excuse me?"

"You think they haven't thought of that. They have procedures set in place and wards to prevent unwanted crossings and attacks. We can't jump them even if we tried."

"What do you want done?" Zack asked again.

Maleficent turned to look at him. "I want you to set us free. This humility has gone on for far too long. And my daughter needs a reminder of who she is."

There was silence again, but only a moment.

"What are you waiting for? Three days. Now pack!"

They all scurried out of the room then.

* * *

Nabila was happy that Zoe was leaving and Zoe was furious. She actually liked it here. This was her home. And she still had to payback a couple people, especially her sister. She remembered the procedures that Quinn had gone under when she was taken. She decided to follow them since she didn't trust her father or her sister.

The more she cleaned the more angry she got. How dare they take her from her home and forced to go to some princess paradise. She had heard some people complain about the color being dull but she loved the dull colors. If they were any brighter she would go blind. And she didn't want to forfeit any of her games or forget any of the inside jokes that she had here or, or, or-

She threw the rag across the room. She was furious… but sad. She couldn't admit it when everything was like she loved it but when you took that away she knew she was going to miss her sister. Not because of the pranks they pulled on each other or even together. Zoe would miss her because she loved her sister.

"Hey?" Dr. Facilier was standing in the doorway.

"Go away, dad." Zoe spat.

"I just wanted to give you a going away present. My old travlelog."

"Well, I don't want it. I didn't ask for it and I didn't ask for this!"

"Zoe… Zoe, don't say that."

"Why not? I mean it."

"You shouldn't. There are things that you wouldn't even be able to comprehend out there. And you get to see them and explore them all for yourself."

"I don't want to explore anything! I want to stay here!"

"... Zoe. There's chocolate out there. Cranberry sauce, and my personal favorite; jelly doughnuts. There's so much better things than food out there as well. Give it a chance. If you still despise after ahh- week, then you can come home. I doubt it would be hard for you to sabotage yourself that way."

"What about Maleficent?"

"Your a smart girl, Zoe. Hopefully you'll be smarter than I was. You'll figure it out. She can punish you for failure but can't kill you for trying."

Zoe stared at her dad then burst into tears.

"I-I don't w-want to leave you."

"I know." He said stroking her hair. "I know."

* * *

Zack stuffed everything into his suitcase that he was given but he didn't have enough to fill it. It filled him with anger but soon, he'd have his revenge for Dianna.

"ZACK!" Hook yelled.

"Yes, Hook!" Zack called back.

"ZAACK!" Hook yelled again.

Zack rolled his eyes and set over to the front room.

"What is it?" Zack asked.

"I need help with the shop." Hook stated.

This was how Zack spent the next three days. Trying to get away as Hook bossed him around.

* * *

Nicolette and Norbert had to say goodbye to their siblings before they left. Zack and Zoe were already to go but they were still hugging it out with their family. Mathis was crying. Arthur was clinging to Norbert refusing to let go. Maria was stomping her foot on the ground and complaining as Nicolette and Cosette tried to calm her down. Gabriel held Isabel as she looked around confused as to why everyone was so sad.

Zoe saw the flying ship first. Just a dark form in the lifeless sky. "There they are!"

Leon turned to Zack. "I'll see you again, right?"

"Yes. You will."

Mathis ran to Zack and hugged him. "I don't want my little brothers and sister to go!"

"It's okay, Mathis. Your little siblings will be just fine." Zack grumbled. He disliked hugs on a regular basis but he allowed for them now.

The ship came through the barrier and landing on the broken road. Two guys came out and escorted the four unto the ship and told them how to strap in and put bracelets on them. The blades started rotating and Isabell started crying. Nicolette could hear it but she was already strapped in and couldn't go to her.

The ship lifted and took off. Nicolette kept her eyes on her family. Zoe blew some of her flying hair out of her face and Zack was tensed up, he really didn't like flying. Norbert glanced out above and saw the Isle of the Lost from a higher view than he had ever seen it. He was stunned. They went through the barrier.

Zack groaned dangerously as the ship rumbled and shook. Zoe gasped and Norbert was thrown forward then back. Nicolette spun forward and pushed her head on her chair. Soon the ship stopped shaking as much and leveled out. Zoe squinted out across the bight blue water and towards the previously white city they were headed towards. She could make out faint shapes of buildings now. Her eyes started to water and she thought she might go blind so she squeezed her eyes shut.

Nicolette was blown away by what she saw. Though it was bright and made her eyes water it was beautiful. The water was still today and instead of the gray blue she always knew it was crystal turquoise and she could even see a giant black fish under the waves. She finally understood why they called the sky blue because she had never seen a bluer sky and not a single cloud and the sun. Her dad had once told her about a friend of his going blind from staring at the sun and now she could understand it. She couldn't even get herself to accidentally look at the sun it was so bright.

"Ohh, I'm going blind." Zoe complained just as the flying ship shook again.

"I think it's beautiful." Nicolette said softly.

They were over the City now which, instead of a white haze, glowed with color, mostly amber. Roofs ranged from rusty red to flaky blacks. Buildings rose what seemed to be hundreds of stories high. Nicolette had only seen two story buildings. Ships on the docks had full white sails. Behind the city was a forest and of in the distance she could that the dark high shadows that she had always seen were the majestic mountains, far off and impending. There were not the only ones in the air however as she started to see giant balloons below them.

They started to descend.

"Ouch!" Zoe said pulling on her left ear.

"Here." The pilot said and threw a packet behind him that Norbert caught. "Chew, don't swallow. It helps."

He cautiously put a stick in his mouth and gave the packet to his sister. Nicolette put one in her mouth and passed two sticks back to Zoe and Zack.

"These are disgusting." Zack complained.

"Don't want it, don't chew on it."

"I like it." Norbert said.

They continued down until they landing on the top of a building. Nicolette couldn't believe that buildings could get this large or support a flying ship landing on it. They were ushered out. Zack was taken away first by a man in a white suit. Zoe was taken next and was led through a door in the roof. Another doctor came and called for Norbert. He was septical at first but allowed himself to be taken.

Nicolette stood there, feeling abandoned and alone until another doctor came and ushered her to the door.

"Oh just bring you carry on, dear." The short woman mentioned. "You're Nicolette, correct?"

"Yes." Nicolette was fascinated by the doctor's braided red hair.

"I'm Doctor Aquino. Don't worry, I'll just be doing some checkups nothing terrible."

The went down stairs and then down a few halls until we were in a room with a chair and tan walls.

"Sit down. You'll be fine."

They did a few tests most Nicolette didn't like but after an hour or so Dr. Aquino led her down some more stairs until they were outside.

"Just wait at that park right there. The man in the black suit is there to help you out if you need anything."

Nicolette nodded.

"Hey, you'll be fine, stop worrying." She said and walked away.

Nicolette put her backpack on the bench and looked around. The man was big and seemed almost to be glaring at her. He had some wicked sideburns though. The park had a sandpit and platforms that connected in odd ways There was a pyramid that was almost two stories tall with a slide coming out of it. A Rope bridge connected it to a platform with pipes coming out of it. A giant telescope was at the other side. No one was there to play on it.

Nicolette shouldered the backpack again and walked up a spiral staircase to the pipe platform. There were levers and valves. She turned a valve and a low pitch rang out, causing her to jump. She quickly turned it the other way and the sound stopped. She took another look up and realized that she was in a music box. Literally. She looked at the rope bridge which now she realized was actually monkey bars. So she swung her way on top of it and walked to the pyramid. She had never been so high above the ground (besides today). She was terrified but to excited not to. She made it to the pyramid and found hand holds all over it. She found the entrance to the inside and began exploring. She found the slide and went down. Nicolette's first time riding a slide and she had so much fun.

Zoe stood near the table, hands on her hips and one eyebrow raised.

"What?" Nicolette asked.

"What are you doing?"

"It's a playground. You play on it." Nicolette defended herself.

Norbert came out of the hospital next and ran over to Nicolette the moment he saw her. "Hey. What's that?" He nodded to a circular platform.

"I don't know. Let's find out." She got off the slide and ran to it with Norbert on her heels. Even Zoe followed, slowly, with sure steps.

"Why does it have railings on it?" Norbert asked.

"Who cares." Zoe said behind them.

Norbert stepped on the platform and it moved. "Whoa."

"It's not stable." Nicolette mentioned.

Zoe took a railing and pushed it one way. Norbert stumbled as it moved in a circular pattern.

"Hey!" Norbert complained.

"Oh, I get it." Nicolette jumped on and grabbed two railings. "It's like when we hold hands and spin in circles. Remember."

"Oh!" Norbert copied his sister and grabbed the railings. "Spin it Zoe."

Zoe complided, although she didn't look happy about it. She grabbed the railing and pushed it. It didn't do much, so instead she began to push and run. That got it going. She jumped on the edge and began to kick the ground to keep it going.

"Help me out!" She shrieked as the ride got faster.

Nicolette obliged and hugging the railing kicked the ride to go faster. Norbert started laughing.

Zack came out and looked at the spectacle just as the man walked forward and grabbed the railing stopping the ride short.

"It's time to go. Your car is here." And he began walking towards a carriage.

Nicolette, Zoe and Norbert started walking after him stumbling over their own feet feeling very dizzy. Zoe spun the opposite way that she was previously claiming that it helped. Than she caught sight of the car and stopped short.

"Where are the horses?" She asked. The man didn't answer her.

"Maybe they don't need horses." Norbert speculated but he didn't sound sure.

"Is he going to pull it?" Zack asked.

Norbert just shrugged.

The man held the door open for them and they piled into the carriage.

"Nice room." Zoe mentioned.

Inside it was a dark brown with red cushions to sit in. Red curtains they could pull down over the windows and a light on the ceiling with a chain hanging down. Zoe reached up to pull it and the light went on. She pulled it again and it went out. Suddenly the carriage lurched forward and Zoe almost fell on the floor with Zack. Nicolette and Norbert hit the back of their seats hard and groaned. The car settled into a constant rumble as the wheels rolled over the cobblestones.

"What the hell!" Zoe gasped and tried to open the window.

"How is it moving?" Zack asked clearly annoyed. He found a lock on his window and unlocked it. His window swung inward quite easily after that and he stuck his head out the window.

"There's nothing pulling it and nothing pushing it." He reported.

Zoe was still fiddling with the window. "How do you?"

"There's a lock." Zack said pointing at it.

Zoe opened the window easily after that and stared out and reported the same thing.

"It must be magic." Nicolette said.

"What if it's not?" Norbert asked.

"What else could it be." Nicolette asked.

"I don't know."

"Oh hell no." Zoe suddenly said.

"What?" Nicolette asked.

"Look at them. What are they wearing. If they tell me to wear that I'm going to kill someone."

They looked and saw passing carriages, horseless and not, next to them in the wide road. There were places to walk on the sides of the road and people were walking. Men were wearing tops hats and coasts or goggles and vests. The women wore corsets and bustles and hats. Nicolette could see the appeal of the fashion but she shared Zoe's distaste.

The buildings weren't shacks, instead tall and sturdy with neutral colors that Nicolette hadn't ever seen before. Handwriting she hadn't seen before. Above them were flying ships in the sky with multicolored balloons. Some were just tied to the tops of buildings and hovering above the streets.

"What's with the balloons?" She asked.

"Wha-huh? It looks like a party." Zack mentioned.

"Yeah it does." Nicolette agreed.

"I think it's just because it's a nice day." Zoe said. "How much longer?" She asked the driver.

"Too long." Was all he answered.

"Where are we?" Zack asked.

"Nylie." The driver supplied then shut pulled down curtains over the window that separated them.

Zoe mouthed the word, shook her head, rolled her eyes, and settled for glaring out the window. It was the first time Nicolette had seen her with something to say but choosing to keep her mouth closed. The road on for a while after that, wondering at the things around them but not breaking the silence.

They stopped the horseless carriage and opened the door for us. Norbert was out first followed by Zack. Nicolette jumped out with restless energy and gazed around as Zoe exited slowly.

The sky was still as blue as when we had left the Isle but now it didn't make Nicolette's eyes water. She could see the flying ships in the air now as well as the tops of buildings and street lamps. She could see the mountains off in the distance with snow caps. Then the building they had stopped at. It was made mostly of what she would call bronze. It was an estimated four stories tall and had this domed roof. It's stretched far both ways. A train suddenly entered in one end and Nicolette could see tracks, she believed, basically carving a tunnel through the city.

"Wow." Was all she said.

The rest of the gang was moving out so she ran after them. People were walking to and from the entrance and Norbert tugged her arm and pointed to a sign that read; Rent a Car. Under it it had a couple cars there and a few spots empty. We came up to the entrance and the sign above the front doors read 'Bagton Vale'. The last sight I saw before we plunged through the glass doors into the darkness inside.

The inside of Bagton Vale was huge and vast. The train that I had seen enter was on tracks inside along with two other trains. People walked along in their best clothes, some dragging suitcases around. There was a few lines in front of booths with a uniformed person was talking to them. The ground on which we walked was so smooth that it shined. If you looked just right you could see a distorted image of yourself. The ceiling was high, high above with a circular pattern of glass and bronze.

The man in the suit led us through an express line and boarding us unto the train.

"Where on earth are we going?" Zoe asked as she climbed the steps into the train.

"Hell." Zack answered. "Otherwise know as school in Amearothia."

The led us down the tiny hallway until the opened a door that slid along the side of the wall. "This is your room, we will be leaving in twenty minutes."

Our cabin was overwhelming red, even the wood looked red. It was carpeted with this intertect gold, red and brown design. Windows had red curtains strung up on the sides and could slide open. A red couch wrapped it's way around three sides on the cabin but didn't touch the side with the door. There were compartments to put our stuff on the ceiling and a table with card games on it. There was what looked like a shoe holder at the door.

The door slid shut behind them and all they could hear was the sounds of thousands of people doing their business. Sounds of feet clicking on the ground, a sound of a muffled voice ringing out, sound of steam hissing, and the echo of people's voices.

"This is crazy." Zoe said as she walked towards the window. "There can't be these many people."

"Look at the floor." Zack told her.

"What's so special about the floo- what is that?" She asked.

"It's a map." Zack said.

He was right. The floor did have a appearance of a map but they couldn't make out any of it being at such an angle and everyone walking on it. But Nicolette didn't mind, it was just a map and she knew everything she needed about geography.

They all kicked off their shoes and then stared out the windows trying to gage the life of those outside. They really were just making jokes about them. Zack was increasingly dismal and cruel about it. Norbert kept saying that someone was someone's great aunt's cousin twice removed.

"See, that man right there, with the tan vest and mechanical shoulder." Zoe said.

"Yeah." Nicolette asked.

"He is the sole survivor of his ex-wife. She tried to kill him but instead broke his shoulder and he's still running from her. And that girl in the shinny brown vest and blue dress."

"Unhuh."

"She just killed her mother and dumped her body in the ocean-"

"Really?" Zack asked.

"Yes, and now she's running to get away to her secret lover whos she's been writing to against her mother's wishes, that's why she killed her, but her lover is actually a con man who will play along until her get's all of her money and then will shoot her and skip town."

"What if the con man doesn't live where he says he lives?" Norbert asked.

"Ohh, than she breaks in cause no one answers the door and she finds this dead body and thinks that someone's killed her lover and goes on this revenge trip to kill the murderer."

"The con man?"

"Hey, I bet that guy with that blue and black cost is the girl with white and black pulled up skirt's uncle-in-law's long lost son." Norbert said.

"Why! Why would you think that!" Nicolette yelled exasperated.

"... It'd be cool."

"Yeah, and she's looking for him now because she just killed her uncle-in-law for money, she was the only person left in the family since the rest were either poisoned or feel ill, but her uncle-in-law left everything for his long lost son and now she either needs to marry him to get the money or kill him or both."

"I bet the son contracted a deadly disease and is already married and left everything for his son who's only worked at the same plumbing place for his whole life."

Suddenly A voice cried out clearly "All Aboard!" and a whistle blew.

"Are we going?" Zoe asked.

Norbert opened the window as the could hear the doors locking down the train. The whistle blew out again and you could hear a faint thumping noise until a loud hissing sound rang out and the train began to inch forward.

"We're moving." Zoe exclaimed and opened another window and stuck her head out and looked forward. "That's a lot of smoke."

Nicolette and Zack stuck their heads out of the windows too. People were waving and some touching hands coming out of the windows. Shouts of 'I'll miss you' and others things like that were heard. They began to move faster and another thumping noise was heard, much louder than the previous ones. This thumping got faster as they began to move faster. People were running after the train, trying to stay with their loved ones. Suddenly they were out of the Bagton Vale the sun shining brightly and then back into darkness as they went through the train tunnel with amber lights. They went on an upwards slope and went right over a busy road full of people, cars, and carriages. They tunnel's ceiling disappeared replaced by high buildings on both sides, an alleyway behind apartments based on the balconies above them.

Nicolette's thick hair blew in the wind. And suddenly, they were outside of the city's amber glow. The train started up the hill towards the inland forest before them. Nicolette strained to see more than glanced back at the city. They rose above it gradually until she could look right over the high roofs and out into the sea beyond to where her birthplace lay. The Isle of the Lost was just a smokey mass on the horizon that bended the sunlight around it and looked like it had a constant thunderstorm raging. You couldn't see anything though all that smog. And the farther they went the smaller it got.

A small bubble of laughter escaped her lips before she fell silent again.


End file.
